I had a meeting this week, during the school day, in my building. It meant prepping a sub plan, but, since I was in the building, something I could get going before running out to the meeting. As often happens, this wasn’t the best time for my Grade 9s to be without me. We’ve just […]
I try to avoid teaching students formulas for their writing, but sometimes giving them a go-to formula for thinking can help them organize their writing independently.
Mentor Text: Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman Writing Techniques: Creative Writing Voice Humour Considering Audience Background: A beloved part of my day is right before my daughters’ bedtime, when we read. I have a six year old and a four year old, and each is currently obsessed with a different book. My oldest is […]
On Monday, I visited the STEAM Fair at our local early years school. My oldest daughter is in kindergarten there, and my wife teaches there. My wife had shared what her students were doing, and my daughter was vibrating with excitement about the chance to show off her work. My obvious highlight was watching my […]
The Door of Chaos allows students to respond to and collaborate with their peers in other classes throughout the day.
This post explores an alternative approach to literary analysis that might make your students feel more engaged with the writing genre.
I had great plans to help my students organize their writing lives. Things didn’t go quite as planned, but their writing lives are alive and well!
Mentor Texts: “In praise of Joanne Rowling’s Hermione Granger series” – Sady Doyle Writing Techniques: Character analysis Applying a critical lens Voice Background: I am re-reading the Harry Potter series with my oldest daughter. We’re reading the gorgeous illustrated editions. This means that we are now on our second go-round with Chamber of Secrets, as […]
As Moving Writers readers know, one of the central ideas behind this site is authentic writing—what does writing in the real and wild world look like (versus the sometimes too-tightly controlled world of our classrooms)? Over the years, I’ve come to believe that the more the writing I ask students to do in the classroom […]
We are over at the Heinemann PLC Series this week chatting about mentor texts & discovery . Read — and watch — more here!
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